View full sizeTom Day said his grandfather and great-grandfather both made wine, so you can understand where the gene originated. But what they didn’t do is elevate that practice of making wine for private consumption to something the public can purchase, which is what he has done with the opening of Hummingbird Ridge Winery in York Haven. That’s central Pennsylvania for those of you reading this from outside the midstate.

Located a few minutes off the Newberrytown exit (32) of I-83, between York and Harrisburg, the winery opened Nov. 20 and has been drawing lots of attention the two days a week (Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.) he’s open. Hummingbird Ridge belongs to the Uncork York! Wine Trail, which holds a Tour de Tanks event in March that has been doubling in attendance the past couple of years. Day was asked if he was ready. You could hear him start to laugh on the phone.

"They’re telling me buses come to this thing [Tour de Tanks]," he said, laughing. "A bus isn’t going to get up my driveway."

Lots of cars have, he said, since the first weekend the place opened. Asked how he’s doing advertising his business, Day said he hasn't had to. "It’s flying off the shelves. Everybody’s liking it," he said. "I tried to cater to this area as far as what I thought their taste would be, and I pretty much hit it on the head. People are going, ‘I don’t like red wines.’ Well, they’re leaving the winery with red wines. Or ‘I only drink reds,’ and they’re leaving with the whites."

His wine list leans toward sweet, semi-sweet and semi-dry, using juices from Vidal, Niagara and Concord grapes. He said that he sells one dry red made from the DeChaunac grape. "I have some more DeChaunac I’m going to be racking and oaking and it comes out, it has like chocolate overtones in it. It’s really nice."

Day spent 20 years in home winemaking, winning a number of awards, before deciding to turn the hobby into a business. He purchases the juice for all his wines.

"My theory is, if you grow your grapes, which is a whole other animal, you gotta go that season’s grapes and you gotta use that," he said. "My theory is, if I go to other juices I can taste the Concord here, taste the Concord there, taste the Concord at the next winery, and then I can pick out the best juice to make the best wine."